Reply-all is the creation of the Devil

"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
12/11/2018 at 17:02 • Filed to: unless it's a porn email thread in which case reply away

Posting this from The Takeout because my workplace has a problem with people using Reply All in group emails. In truth, there are instances when the function is called for, but most of the department and college wide reply-all emails I get are useless chatter. Still, I’ve never experienced an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , so I have something to be thankful for.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

DISCUSSION (30)

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:07

I worked at a Big 4 Accounting Firm and this happened... The system crashed after MULTIPLE REPLY ALLS BACK AND FORTH TO 286,000 PEOPLE. As an intern I thought it was the f unniest thing I have ever seen.

Chariotoflove > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
12/11/2018 at 17:08

It kinda is.

Ash78, voting early and often > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:10

Reply All is a fantastic tool. However, it is used incorrectly about 97% of the time.

A real Email Ninja hits Reply All and then edits the recipients based on the relevance of the content. But that’s the 0.001%. It’s something to strive for.

Just Jeepin' > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:11

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:14

I just had this happen last week at my company, not the entire company thankfully but the entire division I’m in. It took about 50 emails before it died out.

1. We don’t need answers sent replay-all, just reply to the original person.

2. We don’t need 40 people replying-all to not reply-all

3. You’re smart ass reply-all comments aren’t all that original

4. GODDAMMIT! STOP REPLYING ALL!

Chariotoflove > Ash78, voting early and often
12/11/2018 at 17:17

I find that the utility of the tool generally is inversely proportional to the size of the group. That is, it is most useful to me in small work groups of people who need to coordinate their actions or a meeting. When the group gets large, it’s usually something like an announcement, and there is no need to make everyone read your reply.

OmerCarrothers333 > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:18

Usually the people that misuse “Reply All” are older than fifty-five.

Chariotoflove > Just Jeepin'
12/11/2018 at 17:19

That’s awesome.

Chariotoflove > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
12/11/2018 at 17:20

This is the correct take.

Just Jeepin' > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:21

Aaron Sorkin West Wing is just about the best TV dialog ever written.

Deal Killer - Powered by Focus > OmerCarrothers333
12/11/2018 at 17:29

Phew, I have another five years before I become a technological idiot.

CB > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:34

I just have a seperate email list for my team. Makes things easy.

MoCamino > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:36

Rewind to several years ago, shortly after I had been promoted to supervisor in my small group . (We had about eight employees in our group, part of a larger group of about 100 . ) I had been a lead tech for a few years, and frequently replied to group emails for assistance, because teamwork. About a month after my promotion, I responded to another such request for help. As your standard computer guy, I’ll admit I have a tendency toward arrogance and a relatively small portion of patience for answering the same question repeatedly. To my shame, t hose character flaws surfaced (honestly, only a little - no really! ) in my response.

Not too long after my response, I got an email from my manager. He explained in detail the importance of watching my tone in emails now that I was a supervisor, for the sake of professionalism and office politics. He reminded me how important it was to ensure we maintained good relations with the other departments of our group, because we might someday need THEIR help, etc. It was lengthy - and in his defense, not altogether inaccurate.

Unfortunately he had hit reply all instead of just replying to me. The irony of him scolding me about professionalism while using reply all like an idiot was not lost on me - or on the others that emailed me directly with various versions of “dude, that was harsh”.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:37

Me: I’m implementing a recipient limit on the mail server.

Manager: No, no, don’t do that. Then they can’t send emails to all of the customers at once.

Me: They ’ll still be able to. It’ll just have to be sent to a special address instead. It’s no big deal.

Manager: No, no, that’s too hard for me t o understand. Nobody can understand that. Don’t do that. Just make sure we can send an email to every single customer at once. That’s how they’re writing it to work .

Me: ... your funeral.

... not much later ...

Manager: WHY IS THE EMAIL SYSTEM DOWN?! NOBODY CAN GET ANY EMAILS! SUPPORT IS BEING FLOODED!

Me: Well it seems here that someone emailed a few hundred thousand people. At least ten thousand of them bounced as undeliverable. Eight mail servers ran out of disk because you refuse to buy appropriate equipment.

Manager: WELL FIX IT!!

Me: Oh, it’s well past that, because you also said I couldn’t fix the open relay problem. So yeah. Now there’s probably a couple trillion pieces of spam inside here too. And so on and so forth. So yeah. It’s way too late for that.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:41

The Deadspin March Madness reply-allp ocalypse still fires up around Feb/March a little bit . Been a number of years going.

Chariotoflove > MoCamino
12/11/2018 at 17:42

That’s a good story. I hope the guy had the decency to own his mistake.

Chariotoflove > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks
12/11/2018 at 17:44

Dilbert, is that you?

Chariotoflove > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
12/11/2018 at 17:45

Ugh. Tournament brackets should be handled off line.

OmerCarrothers333 > Deal Killer - Powered by Focus
12/11/2018 at 17:45

We’ll change the criteria for you in five years.

MoCamino > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:45

Well, now I’M the idiot. I meant to add that he did own up to it before too long, and was very apologetic. I never did find out if he figured it out on his own, or if somebody called him on it. :)

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:46

Agreed - we are talking about Deadspin though....so....yeah. ESPN had a reply-allpocalypse earlier this year as well.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 17:48

Dilbert’s org was infinitely more competent than that place.

Their solution was to spend several million dollars on a whole new mail system. Then literally wipe the disks of the prior system - with no backups whatsoever - and just cut over without ever having tested the new system.

I’m sure you can guess the rest of the story from there.

Chariotoflove > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
12/11/2018 at 17:55

My opinion of Deadspin is pretty low, so it doesn’t surprise me.

Chariotoflove > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks
12/11/2018 at 17:57

I can’t even...

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 21:00

It's like Bedlam DL3 all over again...

Chariotoflove > BaconSandwich is tasty.
12/11/2018 at 21:03

I don’t understand that reference. Hopefully google solves this one too.

for Michigan > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 21:24

My office of about 50 employees just merged with one with of about 150 employees about a month and a half ago . The number of garbage emails the other office has sent to the staff at my office because they are unwilling or unable to leave us out has already exceeded the entire number of emails I got in my previous two years with this company. It’s infuriating.

Chariotoflove > for Michigan
12/11/2018 at 22:01

One big happy family. So nice to be included.

shop-teacher > Chariotoflove
12/11/2018 at 22:30

That drives me bonkers. I think I use reply all like three times a year ... Maybe.

Chariotoflove > shop-teacher
12/11/2018 at 23:28

At least I can group them by thread in my inbox and then delete them with one click.